Joetta Stevenson is no stranger to disaster. When Hurricane Harvey pummeled southeast Texas with more than 50 inches of rain in 2017, she watched the flood waters in parts of her Houston neighborhood turn intersections into rivers. Stevenson’s home was spared major damage, save a leaky roof, but the relentless rain swallowed nearby houses, filling them with more than a foot of water. Hundreds of homes and apartments were flooded and damaged in the neighborhood, which is hemmed in by Buffalo Bayou and two elevated freeways that redirect water to the area during severe rains.
This year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting a hurricane season with “above-normal” activity for the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. The COVID-19 pandemic stands to disrupt recovery efforts from the next storm, as public health guidelines mandating social distancing and reduced face-to-face interactions could further complicate the already byzantine recovery process. “We are not ready for another major hurricane,” says Reverend James Caldwell, a community advocate and resident of Houston’s Fifth Ward neighborhood. “There is an atmosphere of fear and apprehension. Everything is unexpected.”
The Fifth Ward, where Stevenson also lives, is one of Houston’s oldest historically Black communities. It’s also one of the poorest: The median household income was about $30,000 in 2017, about half the statewide median. As the president of the neighborhood group that covers the Fifth Ward, Stevenson has been helping families recover from Harvey ever since it made landfall. Her efforts have been concentrated on helping them obtain federal and state funding to repair damaged roofs and foundations. She says there are still residents who haven’t gotten the aid they need. “I was just on a call today about a home that’s deteriorating,” she says. “In one of the richest nations in the world, it shouldn’t take this long to get money from point A to point B.”
